Tsarina Esra
Brouwerij De Molen

Interesting. 2015 bottle good for 25 years. Excellent aroma- chocolate and malt. MF is smooth. Same chocolate and malt taste in the taste.. Good beer but I prefer the American porters like Revolution Eugene.

 

Pours a thin brown head that fades quickly, leaving no lace. Dark brown color, no highlights. Medium carbonation and medium bodied. Nose is sweet like fig. Flavor has sweetness with caramel, coffee, hints of chocolate. Smooth, higher ABV, 11%, not noticeable. Bottled May 19, 2015. Over seven years ago! $9.49 for 330ml bottle from Beverage Warehouse, Winooski, VT.

Nose dark heavy roast with a bit of char and very dark dark chocolate, mild alcohol, rich prune and fig dark fruits, raisin, cocoa.

Taste more heavy rich malts, dark roasty malts with some coffee, dark chocolate again as well as cocoa powder and chocolate syrup, mild dark fruits with a bit of raisin and fig.

Mouth is full bod, rich, thick, low almost no carbonation, but not too bad for an 8-year-old beer. Does not feel like 11% but could not finish it due to the soapy flavor.

Overall nice fruits on the nose, great chocolate all around, but lack of carbonation and soapy aftertaste made this a miss for me, but tastes like an aged old Imperial Baltic Porter.

2014 bottle, unfortunately didn’t hold up all that well. Mostly still and watery, lacking the heft that might make the lack of carbonation agreeable. Has appealing chocolate and peat aromas and flavors but an astringent bitter finish. Love De Molen but this isn’t one of their better efforts, not at least this long into aging.

Bottled 19/05/15 (not sure if year is 19 or 15)
Pours no head, but pitch black semi thick with decent legs

Nose dark heavy roast with a bit of char and very dark dark chocolate, mild peppery-peppermint alcohol, rich prune and fig dark fruits, raisin rum, cocoa powder, a bit of cookie dough, and mild winey oxidation with hint of paper

Taste more heavy rich malts, dark roasty malts with some coffee and hint of char, very dark chocolate again as well as cocoa powder and chocolate syrup, some oxidation notes again with a little paper but wine-port-like, a bit of bitterness from touch of hop and the roast, baker's chocolate, into mild dark fruits with a bit of raisin and fig, candied versions, chewy dark chocolate

Mouth is full bod, rich, thick, low almost no carb but not too bad for an aged beer, alcohol is smooth

Overall nice, love the fruits on the nose, great chocolate all around, oxidation was decent but lack of carbonation was not as great, but tastes like an aged old Imperial Baltic Porter

Poured from an 11.2 oz bottle, vintage 2012 into the Harpoon Leviathan glass.
A - Chalkboard black color, a thin offwhite cap starts to assemble, decides to give up. Reassembling into a thin off white ring during the remaing time.
S - Blackberry reduction, fig, dark chocolate, cigar wrap tobacco. Hints of dark toast, char, black licorice
T - As complex as the nose, with the bulk being focused on the chocolate, blackberry. Madagascar chocolate 70+% is the closest comparison. Fig stops in for a bit then moves on. With a little rise in Temperature the tobacco and lite char take the stage a bit.
M - Luxurious, simply luxurious. Silky smooth, hefty on the palate desert wine in body, silky smooth, sweet start moves to center and stays there. Fully coated palate is treated to the slightest hop bite. Finishing as it sarted slightly sweet and lingering forever.
O - A spectacular treat , rich and full, slick but not overbearing. Cocoa, dark fruit and a complex aromatic thread all add up to a real treasure

Appearance is a surprise, motor-oil brown but relatively translucent, less opaque than expected. Nose pulls more towards grain than anything caramelized, think raw walnut. Palate is wonderfully lifted, doesn't show the weight of 11% abv, though toffee beings to take over taste wise. More carbonated mouthfeel than expected.

Overall an darker, imperial-style beer you could happily drink on a Summer day.

 

 

Lable is now simply black and white, my bottle is 10.1% ABV. Lable states style as 'Imperial Porter-ish'
L- Extremely dark ruby-red when held up to a halogen. Clear/filtered, zero sediment in pour or bottle. Pours with 2mm mid-tan head, good going for this high an ABV%.
S- Deep fruit notes, but preserved fruits, specifically preserved figs come to mind (the kind we used to eat at the Xmas table). There is also a slightly vinious note - wine-barrel aged?
T- Deeeep malts, beautifully sustained rich/zingy (ABV instead of hops) punchy taste that just holds and holds... wow. At this point if there is wine-barrel ageing it's lost into the big and pungent mix - fine by me the whole is luscious.
F- What a refined and polished gem this is. You just know it's a beast but it's so 'polite and subtle' about it.
O- Absolutely delicious. Would be great in place of a dessert wine after a meal. Great at Xmas time, great in winter. This is so good it coule be habit forming. ... Just suggested to my wife that once Covid is over we go and visit this brewery, the things they brew!...
330ml bottle, £4.80 bought from TremblingMadness/York as part of a couple of mixed cases for home delivery to London. BB: off in 2045!

330 ml bottle, dated May 19, 2015. Says drink within 25 years, so the about 5 years of age seems appropriate.

Pours a very dark brown, but not quite pitch black. Thin tan colored head that fades to nothing. Aroma and taste of dark molasses, black cherry, a bit of smoke and licorice. Not much roast flavor at all. But not overly sweet. Medium bodied, lower carbonation.

 

 

Brewed in 2016. Pour jet black with a mocha head. Nose is roasted malts. Fruit and roast dominate the flavor profile with a hint of anise and cocoa. Tobacco. A bit of oxidation. Drink by 2041! Overall quite smooth and leathery.

I realize I gave this 4.25 across the board. Very consist in every regard. Billed as an Imperial Porter. On draft in Amsterdam. Black chocolate pervades this beer. The nose has an amazing creamy dark chocolate character - is even possible? The nutty/roasty malts are a great bitter counterpoint to the full maltiness. Excellent beer.

Bottled in 2017 - the 10.1% ABV, 383 EBC, 93 EBU version of this beer (white / black label).

A: Dark dark beer. Thin head.

S: Wow. Sweet, prune, berries w/ a hint of leather/earthy/alcohol.

T: First impression - much more bitterness and nibs than expected from the nose. On subsequent sips, more caramel, smokiness, chocolate, prune, and chocolate come through. While there are subtle prune and fruit/cherry flavours, nowhere near as much as I'd expect off the nose. The finish is of sweetness and alcohol with a bit of dryness that encourages the next sip. A more complex beer than I expected with a touch more bitterness and alcohol than I would have though.

F: Very smooth with light carbonation.

O: A tasty beer no doubt and certainly a good representation of a Belgian-influenced Imperial Porter.

I'd love to age a bottle for 10+ years to see what happens. If a bit from of the fruitiness from the nose came through in the taste this would be an epic brew.

From the 11.2 oz bottle in a snifter. This decent baltic pours a rich
deep and dark brownish black with cola highlights and a decent
head of off white foam that settles to a big bubbled ring and very thin
foam layer with subtle lacing. Nose of chocolate, coffee, dark fruits,
toffee, and sweet brown sugars. Flavors subtly exceed the nose with
dried cherries that mingle with chocolate malts and a touch of coffee
amongst hints of coffee and brown sugars. Decent mouth feel;
medium full body, smooth, rich, nice roasted elements that lend
to the low carbonation, and a rich moderately sweet and
lightly dry finish.

Overall, I have never had a bad brew form this brewery, and this
one impresses all the same.

Nice

Cheers

Bottle at Echarle Huevos. Pours a black colour, medium head with long retention, compact lacing. Aroma of dried fruits, chocolate, vanilla, liquor. Full body, creamy dense texture, good carbonation. Sweet finish. Taste is similar to the aroma. Alcohol is not much noticeable. Good.